Acast has introduced Smart Recommendations, a new AI-driven search engine aimed at streamlining podcast ad planning for advertisers.
Launched under Acast Intelligence, the tool allows users to input natural language prompts to instantly generate curated podcast lists matched to specific audience criteria.
Data-powered precision
Smart Recommendations utilises a decade’s worth of Acast’s proprietary data and over five million data points from Podchaser.
It combines OpenAI’s language models with retrieval-augmented generation to function as an AI media planner, replacing manual campaign planning with faster, data-driven recommendations.
Strong results in campaign efficiency and discovery
According to Acast, early testing of the platform among internal teams and select advertisers demonstrated a 92% reduction in campaign planning time.
Moreover, 80% of media buyers uncovered new podcast options previously absent from their plans.
Podcasts with under 50,000 listeners saw a notable uplift, including a 14% increase in median purchase rate and a 35% rise in visit rate, based on Podscribe data.
The launch of Acast Intelligence
Smart Recommendations marks the first release under the Acast Intelligence banner, with the company aiming to further integrate AI into its podcast advertising solutions.
Acast Intelligence
Matt MacDonald, Chief Product Officer at Acast, described the platform as a “second brain” for advertisers. “It’s about moving beyond guesswork to truly understand and reach the right audiences,” he said.
Key features include advanced semantic search that understands contextual and conceptual nuances, rich show-level insights covering audience engagement and content tone, and transparent justifications for each recommendation.
The tool is currently available through Acast’s ad platform and is also being adopted by its global sales teams.
Henrik Isaksson, Regional Managing Director for Acast ANZ, highlighted the relevance to the local market. “The launch of Smart Recommendations is a perfect example of our relentless pursuit of valuable podcast audiences in Australia,” he said.